The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) is currently seeking help locating Cortney Bell, who may be in the Covington area.
The JCSO posted a BOLO for Bell on Facebook on Monday evening that stated she is wanted “on multiple charges.” The Covington News reached out to the JCSO, and a spokesperson said that she is wanted on “drug charges,” though it is not clear the specifics of those charges.
When asked if Bell had any other pending charges, the JCSO spokesperson reiterated, “This says drug charges.”
Previously, Bell faced charges involving the 2017 death of her infant daughter, Caliyah McNabb.
On the night of Oct. 6, 2017, Bell and her then-boyfriend Christopher McNabb, who lived together at the time, reportedly smoked methamphetamine. The next morning, Bell awoke and Caliyah was missing from her crib, with only her pajamas remaining on the bathroom floor.
Bell reportedly called the police, alerting them that her daughter was missing. A day later, the infant’s body was found in a wooded area nearby.
Bell and McNabb were ultimately convicted for the murder along with several other charges. McNabb remains in prison where he is serving a life sentence.
Bell was originally sentenced to 30 years, with 15 years to serve in prison. However, Bell’s sentence was eventually overturned.
The Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed the first two convictions – murder in the second degree, cruelty to children in the second degree – but upheld the third charge of felony contributing to the dependency of a minor. The appeals court determined that Bell’s “acts of neglect were not the sole proximate cause of the victim’s death, the evidence played a substantial part in [the victim’s] death and that death was a reasonably probable consequence of that neglect.”
In 2023, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled in Bell v. The State that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that Bell was guilty of contributing to her daughter’s death.
“In summary, the evidence here showed that Bell went to sleep one night, checked on Caliyah early the next morning, and went back to sleep for 4.5 hours. The evidence further showed that while Bell slept, McNabb committed a violent crime that the State conceded was the direct and immediate cause of Caliyah’s death,” Justice John J. Ellington writes. “There was no evidence that Caliyah’s death was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of Bell’s drug use or drug use in the home by McNabb or others or that it was reasonably foreseeable that McNabb would commit the horrific crimes that resulted in Caliyah’s death. And there was no evidence presented that showed Bell was a party to McNabb’s crimes, that she heard McNabb striking Caliyah and did nothing to stop him, or that she refused to provide Caliyah with potentially lifesaving medical treatment.”
Anyone with information on Bell’s whereabouts can contact the JCSO at 706-468-4930.
